Hillary Clinton Faints, Sustains Concussion

WASHINGTON—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently fainted and sustained a concussion, her spokesman said Saturday, and will remain out of the State Department for another week.

ENLARGE

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, pictured last month.
Associated Press

Mrs. Clinton has been recovering from a stomach virus her staff said she had picked up during foreign travel. Mrs. Clinton was forced to cancel on Tuesday a Middle East trip that was focused on encouraging Syria's political opposition to President Bashar al-Assad.

Her spokesman didn't specify on which day Mrs. Clinton sustained her concussion, only saying that it happened "earlier this week."

"While suffering from a stomach virus, Secretary Clinton became dehydrated and fainted, sustaining a concussion," Philippe Reines, deputy assistant secretary of state, said in a written statement. "She will continue to work from home next week, staying in regular contact with Department and other officials. She is looking forward to being back in the office soon."

Mrs. Clinton's doctors issued a statement with a similar description of her illness. Dr. Lisa Bardack, of Mt. Kisco Medical Group, and Dr. Gigi El-Bayoumi, of George Washington University, added that they "strongly advised her to cancel all work events for the coming week."

Mrs. Clinton's illness means she won't testify Thursday as had been planned before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, according to a statement released Saturday by the panel chairman, Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R., Fla.).

The committee is investigating the September terrorist attack on a U.S. mission in Benghazi, Libya, which killed four Americans.

Testifying Thursday instead will be two other State Department officials, Deputy Secretary William Burns and Deputy Secretary Thomas Nides. Ms. Ros-Lehtinen indicated she still expects Mrs. Clinton to testify at some point.

"Although I respect Bill and Tom, we still don't have information from the Obama Administration on what went so tragically wrong in Benghazi that resulted in the deaths of four patriotic Americans." Ms. Ros-Lehtinen said in the statement. "This requires a public appearance by the Secretary of State herself."

Republicans have attacked the Obama administration for not doing enough to protect the American officials in the field. They've also accused senior administration officials, in particular U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Susan Rice, for obfuscating the cause of the attack for political reasons. Administration officials say they were responding to the intelligence assessments at the time, which changed in the days after the attack.

Ms. Rice Thursday withdrew her name from contention to succeed Mrs. Clinton as Washington's top diplomat, citing the political firestorm over the Benghazi issue.

Mrs. Clinton has said she and the State Department were ultimately in charge of security in Libya and that responsibility rests with her. Her staff has said Libyan militants overran security guards stationed at the U.S. mission in Benghazi.

This copy is for your personal, non-commercial use only. Distribution and use of this material are governed by our Subscriber Agreement and by copyright law. For non-personal use or to order multiple copies, please contact Dow Jones Reprints at 1-800-843-0008 or visit www.djreprints.com.